Amalgamator for free-milling gold ore



Nrrn lSTATES Erica,

ALFRED WOODI-IOUSE, OF BREMGARTEN, VVOKING, ENGLAND, vASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO WILLIAM LINN ALLEN, OF NEVVARIQNEW' JERSEY. l

AIV'IALGAMATOR FOR FREE-MILLING GOLD ORE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 471,367, dated March 22, 1892.

Application fled November 25, 1891. Serial No. li=l.{;",0'72. (No model.)

To a/ZZ whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, ALFRED WooDHoUsn, a subject of the Queen of Great Britain, residing at Bremgarten, Voking, Surrey county, England, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Amalgamators for Free- Milling Gold Ore, fully described and represented in the following specification and the accompanying drawings, forminga part of the same.

The object of this invention is to provide a simple and effective means of obviating the loss of gold from gold washing or amalgamating apparatus and to provide, also, an apparatus which may be readily cleaned from the gold and amalgam; and it consists, essentially, in the combination, with a transverselycorrugated bed, of a removable cover similarly corrugated upon its under side and supported a little above the same to form a narrow bent channel with amalgamated Walls, through which the refuse fluid from the washer or tailings from the battery are conducted and against the walls of which it repeatedly impinges in its passage through the same.

The invention will be understood by reference to the annexed drawings, in which- Figure l is a perspective view with the strip d removed from one edge of the bed, and Fig. 2 is a transverse section of the bed through both strips.

a represents the lower end of the chute, by which the refuse fluid from the gold-washer or tailings from the battery are discharged upon upon the upper end of the bed or plate b. The plate or bed is shown formed of sheet metal, as copper electroplated, corrugated uniformly transverse tothe plate, and several covers c c c2 are shown supported a little above the surface of the plate by lateral strips d. The covers are made of sheet-copper c, corrugated the same as the plate b, with their ridges inserted in the grooves in the plate b, thus forming narrow bent channels e transversely to the plate. Insteadof sheet-copper the cover may be formed of asolid block of metal, as shown at c in Fig. l, with its under surface corrugated to fit the grooves. The strips d are preferably formed of india-rubalternately against the upper and lower sides 6o of the channels ein its movement through the same. The upper edge f of each coveris i bent or curved outwardly from the plate to form a tapering mouth to the channel e, and

the plate b is inclined sufficiently-as one foot in six--to drive the water freely through such channels, carrying the sand or other refuse with it.

The construction shown herein enables me to form both the bed and the cover of com- 7o mercial sheets of copper having uniform corrugations from two to three inches apart, and the covers are set from one-quarter to onethird of an inch from the contiguous surface of the plate b, the proportions being varied to 7 5 suit the character of the refuse fluid received from the chute a. The covers are in practice held in place merely by their own weight, and may be readily grasped by the upturned edge f and lifted from the plate or bed b whenever 8o it is desired to clean the gold or amalgam from the surfaces.

The number of covers applied to the rifdeplate may be varied in accordance With the character of the refuse fluid or tailings, and 8 5 it has been found that in most cases itis necessary to preserve the channel m of uniform width or cross-section throughout, as shown in the covers c c', to maintain a uniform velocity in the current, and thus prevent the 9o sand or sediment from settling in the grooves and clogging up the channel. I find that if the corrugated plates are given exactly twice the drop or pitch that is given to the ordinary flat plates they will clear themselves of sand.

Having thus set forth the nature of the invention, what is claimed herein is 1. In a riffle-plate, the combination, with the uniformly and transversely corrugated bed b, of a similarly-corrugated removable roo The entire surface of the plate b and 55 cover supported over the bed and a little In testimony whereof I have hereunto set 1o above the same, as and for the purpose set my hand in the presence of two subscribing forth. Witnesses.

2. In a re -p]ate, the combination, with ALF. VOODHOUSE. 5 the transverse1ycorrugated bed b, of the eXi- Vtnesses:

ble strips cl, applied to its edges,and a series LIONEL S. VOODHOUSE, of sheet-copper covers corrugated similarly 155 Fenchmch St., London, England. to the bed and supported upon such st1ps,as HERBERT P. DAKIN,

und for the purpose set forth. 14 S. lT-Ielens Place, London, E. C'., Cle/r7.2. 

